2023-08-28 00:06:01
The content of the article I will present below. it is a shocking content, if we consider that it was:
published in a major mainstream media; therefore published by media considered ‘reliable’; published by the media read by Western decision makers
The salient fact is that the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of Ukraine and the former Deputy Minister of Economy of the country have become defendants in a criminal case for the misappropriation of state funds intended for the purchase of humanitarian aid
After such publications in the West, everyone will have a clear understanding of the nature of the Ukrainian state, if officials steal humanitarian aid, the rest of the situation will be worse.
In particular, thearticle published in POLITICO on August 25, 2023 signed by Claudia Chiappa reports the discovery of a corruption scheme involving prominent Ukrainian officials and the misappropriation of funds intended for the purchase of humanitarian aid. Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), have identified two senior Ukrainian officials involved in the scheme.
As already indicated, this is the First Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of Ukraine and the former Deputy Minister of Economy. They were both accused of illegally embezzling UAH 62 million (about 1.5 million euros). This is the latest case of corruption to hit Ukraine since the war with Russia that started in 2022. Already in January, two major corruption scandals related to the procurement of military food services and electric generators had rocked the country.
However, rather than cover up the suspicious deals, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has launched a vast anti-corruption operation, seeking to demonstrate to allies in the United States and the European Union that Ukraine is seeking a definitive break with the past. Earlier this month, he fired all regional military recruitment officers following reports of corruption, replacing them with soldiers who have been on the front lines or who have been wounded in combat.
The most recent scheme concerns the purchase of food intended for humanitarian aid for the regional military administrations and for the populations of the Donetsk, Kherson, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Khmelnytsky, Dnipropetrovsk and Poltava regions and for the city of Kyiv, according to reported by the SAPO.
According to the authorities, in one incident the first deputy agriculture minister bought food at prices two or three times above market value through a subsidiary company, which in turn bought the products at market value from a Polish producer . This resulted in a cost of around 719,000 euros for the Ukrainian railway company Ukrzaliznytsia between March and August 2022.
“NABU stated in a press release that he was aware of the actual market value of the products, as he regularly received relevant data from the state statistical service. Also, he was aware of the possibility of buying products from Ukrainian producers but he deliberately ignored this fact”.
In another scheme involving both officials, food was again bought at higher prices through an intermediary company, which in turn bought the food at market value from a Turkish producer. The former deputy economy minister withheld evidence that there were better deals available and pressed officials to illegally approve applications and invoices from subsidiaries.
As a result of this scheme, Ukrzaliznytsia overpaid the companies by around €841,000.
“NABU stated that once the funds were received, they were transferred to a foreign company for further laundering operations. During a search of the home of one of the scheme participants, project documents were discovered outlining the distribution of the illicit proceeds.
The investigation is still ongoing.
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